Wall Street hits record high - without help from Apple

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street edged up to a record high on Wednesday as gains in consumer discretionary and energy stocks offset losses in technology heavyweight Apple Inc.

Shares of Apple (AAPL.O) dropped 0.8 percent on concerns that the company’s newly launched iPhone X is too expensive and because its availability starting in November was later than expected. With the widely held stock up 37 percent so far this year, some analysts said it was time to cash in gains.

“Apple to a certain extent is a ‘sell the news’ event,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York. “A great deal of expectation has been built into the stock.”

Even with Apple’s losses, the S&P 500, Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq all closed at record levels, helped by other consumer stocks.

The S&P energy index .SPNY rose after the International Energy Agency said that a global surplus of crude was starting to shrink.

The indexes have hit several records this year, despite setbacks caused by turmoil in the White House, the timing of U.S. interest rate hikes, doubts about President Donald Trump’s ability to push through his pro-business reforms, and lately, tensions over a nuclear-weapons-capable North Korea.

The S&P 500, up 11.6 percent in 2017, is trading at 17.6 times expected earnings, expensive compared with its 10-year average of 14.3, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 21, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/Files

Shares of credit score provider Equifax (EFX.N) tumbled 14.6 percent and hit a more than 1-1/2-year low after an apology by company Chief Executive Richard Smith for a massive data breach failed to appease investors.

“Of course it should be getting pounded and the situation is only getting worse,” said Ken Polcari, director of the NYSE floor division at O’Neil Securities in New York. “They have a huge problem on their hands. The fact the (CEO) has been so cavalier – it took him five days to write a response – it’s a disaster.”

Target Corp (TGT.N) rose 2.8 percent after the retailer said it would hire 100,000 workers for the holiday season, 43 percent more than last year.